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From the high skies, or: the lie of the land – a view from the edge

By: Albrecht Hofheinz, University of Oslo.

Egypt has witnessed a somewhat sarcastic debate these days about her ability to secure her skies – after Yāsir ʿAlī, spokesman of the Presidency, tried to deny reports that Egypt’s air defence had failed to spot Israeli planes crossing Egyptian air space on their way south to bomb the Yarmūk ammunition plant in Khartoum, Sudan, on October 24 (with the full knowledge and tacit approval of the US). These reports were published by al-Bidāya (a liberal Egyptian news site just over a month old), based on a Sunday Times article of Oct. 28. During a press conference, the President’s spokesman had stated that these claims were based on “inaccurate translation, as we found out when going back to the original text”. Al-Bidāya jeeringly retorted that the President’s spokesman must have been too stingy to fork out 2 £St to unlock the full Sunday Times article in which details of the operation (seen by many as a trial run for a possible strike on Iranian nuclear facilities), as leaked by Western defence sources, were laid out. For the benefit of those not willing to pay, al-Bidāya then published the full English text of the relevant passages, accompanied by a (quite accurate) Arabic translation. Perhaps this generous donation will help the new rulers of Egypt to spend a little more on the defence of its national airspace? 😉

Inspired by this impishness, I want to remember Felix. Remember #Felix? The guy who jumped from the edge of space? On Oct. 14, the live transmission of Red Bull Stratos on YouTube was watched concurrently by 8 million people worldwide, a media event on a scale Joseph Kittinger (with 31 km the previous record holder from 1960) could never have dreamt of. And sure enough, Egypt proved to be part of this global media world (if a little envious). As Felix in his capsule gained height, he also overtook Egypt’s Twittersphere, temporarily displacing attention for issues normally closer to home, like the debates around the constitution and the constitution of the constitutional assembly; or the violent clashes on Tahrir Square on Friday, Oct. 12, which to many analysts were an omen not boding well for the Muslim Brotherhood’s willingness to accept oppositional protest; or the 88 cases of torture and 34 cases of extra-judicial killings at the hands of Egyptian police that the reputable El Nadim Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture has documented for Morsi’s famous first 100 days in power that were to serve as a yardstick for measuring post-revolutionary progress with the Ikhwan at the helm.

(1) Tweeps also commented on the linguistic aspects of the event. Thus, Zeinobia was reprimanded for her Oooooooooo and told to “speak Arabic“, while Sandmonkey got a thumbs up for actually using his mother tongue for once…

(2) On ‘a7a’, see “Egypt’s deafening three-letter yell“, Egypt Independent, 17/7/2012. There’s also a popular Facebook page by the name, say.a7a, bearing the motto: “أحا – انا حقا اعترض كل شيء يرفضه عقلي. بقول احا وقاصد العالم يسمعها” (a7a – I’m in my full right to object against anything that my reason refuses. I say a7a, and that’s for the world to hear).